I recently went to Sydney to have a toe operation. At the outpatient hospital, a nurse gave me a gown to put on. I put it on the way I would put on a robe. It left me more exposed than a stock trader on a bad day.
Then I remembered, long ago, seeing someone in a hospital gown.
It turned out the ties were in the back, not how I had them.
I reversed the gown and ventured out of the changing room. I saw other people in gowns tied at the back. Success!
I sat and waited a long time.
When I rose to go into the surgery room, another nurse grabbed my hand and told me to hold together behind me the ends of the garment.
I guess I was not as successful with the gown as I imagined.
Still, I learned some things from the experience.
I like learning, even when I learn the hard way.
I have taken delight in learning how to use software that allows me to do something useful, like inviting others to a Zoom session for a future date.
I've also learned how to change my name in a Zoom session. I was Johnny B. Goode last week.
I feel happy when I figure out how to use a shower fixture in a hotel. Water at a pleasing temperature is my reward.
I learn by doing, and I learn by reading and viewing.
One lesson I learned from the fictional Sherlock Holmes: When you have eliminated all possibilities except one, that one, no matter how improbable, must be correct.
I use that rule when I try to solve a mystery.
I learned an important lesson about not staying in a cheap hotel in another country while watching the mini-series Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.
I watched the reactions of a British couple who visited Los Angeles, stayed in a cheap hotel in an awful neighbourhood, and then discovered that another hotel guest had died in a hotel water supply tank some 18 days before, with her body deteriorating all the while.
Just last week, I learned the basics of programming using an open-source language called R.
I want to use R to do unusual statistics in future research projects.
When I learn how to do something, I feel happy. And more capable.
What have you learned to do lately?
Do you feel more capable and happier as a result?
John Malouff is an Associate Professor at the School of Psychology, University of New England.
